Murdered Chinese couple were high-flying graduates

A Chinese couple found murdered in their flat in were high-flying university graduates, police said today.

Students Xi Zhou and her boyfriend Zhen Xing Yang, both 25, were found with severe head injuries at a flat in Newcastle's West End on Saturday afternoon.

Ms Xi may have been suffocated but both had tried to defend themselves against their killer.

Their bodies were found in separate blood-stained rooms.

Detective Superintendent Steve Wade paid tribute to the "hard-working" couple who graduated from Newcastle University in September 2006, Ms Xi with an MA in applied linguistics and Mr Zhen with an MAin international human resources. Ms Xiwas from Hunan province in southern China, but police admitted they knew nothing about Mr Zhen's original home, having been unable to find any relatives.

Mr Wade said: "They were two nice, hard-working, respectable people who have come to the UK for the best of reasons - to get a good education."

He said Ms Xiworked as a waitress at the Wagamama restaurant in the city centre where she was a popular member of staff. Mr Zhen's employment status was not known, the detective said.

Mr Wade said: "We have no known motive for this savage and brutal attack."